Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Wow. How about that; 2014 is nearly over. Did you get everything accomplished you intended to do? Was your journey through Middle Earth as satisfying as you hoped?I have been having a great time! Timewise, I get drawn away by work and family and responsibilities and don't get to play as much, but when I do, it is always satisfying. I made all the festivals. I got all the new horses. I got most of the pets. I did all of the quests. I think I did all the new Deeds. Good times!I need to update my To-Do list and get the All the Steeds Gallery caught up with all the horses that are written about on this blog. Soon, very soon. Thanks for continuing to come to the site!Yule Festival 2014Yule Festival is probably my favorite festival (Yes, I know I say that about most of the festivals!). My favorite things about Yule Festival are...

(1) Sack of Presents. I love running a simple quest and getting the presents. The presents include Marks, Medallions, Seals, Festival tokens, some cosmetic items, and the very rare Hobby Horse. I am still hoping and wishing for my Hobby Horse. Danaish got one a couple of years ago and I'm still envious (check out the Hobby Horse at the link below or in the Steed Gallery.)(2) Easy and open. The quests are very easy. Like good festival quests, after you have run them several dozen times, you can do them with your eyes closed. I also like the wide open Frostbluff area with the open pretty wintry sky.(3) Nice rewards. My favorite rewards from Yule Festival 2014 are the (a) Horse of course @ 80 tokens, (b) the Warsteed cosmetic @ 100 tokens, (c) the Pet Grims @ 75 tokens each, and (d) the Yule Sparklers @ 30 tokens each.There are three Grim available: just "Grim" (it is the Snow Grim), Fire Grim, and Shadow Grim. Here is a shot of the Snow Grim.

Supergirl in a pointing contest with a pet Snow Grim

(4) Long duration. This Yule festival was set with about 4 weeks time to visit, which is great! As I type, there is still about 2 weeks left. Yule Festival ends Jan 13. (5) History: I still remember Yule Festival before Frostbluff. It is great to go back and visit festival every year. :) Here are a few posts from previous years. There was a building storyline in previous years about my leading the Snowman Army slowly to a takeover of Frostbluff. 2013: snow-beast-steed2013: steed-of-withywindle-and-hobby-horse2013: yule-festival-wintertide-steed

2011: youll-yule-festival2011: fun-of-yule-past(-) The downside: The only thing I don't care for about Yule Festival is that the Frostbluff storyline is depressing. The people don't want to work it, the mayor is thieving money, etc. We have come to an understanding though that it is another act, like the Frostbluff Theater. They pretend to be gruff and cheerless, and I pretend not to notice and just collect the rewards. It works, I suppose.Enough about Yule Festival, let's see the Horse!

Steed of Winter Winds:Here is the Steed of Winter Winds.He has a grey spotted hide, white hair, and a lovely multi-blue caparison.

Steed of Winter Winds

The pattern has a nice starry look to it. Here is an overhead view, from slightly behind.

Steed of Winter Winds - from above and behind

Warsteed of Winter Winds - Default:The Default Warsteed look is exactly as one would expect; it is the warsteed default grey. :)Interestingly, the basic Horse has a nice matching saddle and the Warsteed cosmetic does not come with the saddle. The Caparison is a greyer blue than the shade of Indigo; there is no exact blue match on the color palette.

Warsteed of Winter Winds - default

Warsteed of Winter Winds - attempted Match to Horse:Ha Ha! Here is my attempt at matching the Warsteed colors and patterns to the basic Horse. For this next picture I chose Spotted Hide - Grey, White Hair, and the Victory Saddle. Ok, the saddle is not an exact match to the basic Steed of Winter Winds, but it worked well. :)

Warsteed of Winter Winds - attempt to match the basic horse

Warsteed of Winter Winds - Evendim Blue and Black:The Evendim Blue and Black is gorgeous. It is hard to go wrong with the blue shades on this horse. I took the picture from above to show off the fancy starry Caparison. It dyes well.

Warsteed of Winter Winds - Crimson, White, Light Grey:Here is the warsteed in Crimson with White hide and light Grey hair. Oooh, I like this one too. :)

Warsteed of Winter Winds - Crimson and White

Here is another shot of the stars on the Caparison. This one is wearing the Victory Saddle again.

Warsteed of Winter Winds - Crimson from above

For more horse views by a great blogger, tune in to The Elven Tailor @The Elven Tailor/ the-winds-of-winter.I hope you had a great 2014; I look to see you again next year. Thanks for visiting the Supergirl of Lorien site! :)

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Hello again; I hope you are enjoying the Fall Festival!Fall Festival started a couple of days ago and will last until November 2.The events are the same as last year and there are a few new rewards, including a horse, a warsteed caparison, some festive outfits, and barter for essence reclamation scrolls, plus most every item offered at previous festivals. For all the details, visit CSTM atCSTM: lotro-fall-festival-2014/Fall Festival is one of my favorites. The tasks are easy enough and go quickly. It feels the way a festival should, ... almost like quick booths at a fair. Here I will look at the new horse and some versions of the warsteed caparison!Steed of the Autumn Sun:The steed is aptly named! It is a bright red, orange, yellow themed steed and outfit with a festive fall design. It will be easy to remember this one for years to come.The horse barter cost is 60 Fall Festival tokens, which is very simple to get by hanging out at the Haunted House area at the Party Tree.

Steed of the Autumn Sun

Steed of the Autumn Sun at the Party Tree

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - Default:The Caparison is the only piece barterable for the Autumn Sun. It also costs 60 tokens.The default grey version of the Warsteed of the Autumn Sun is kind of drab. The outfit is a shade of yellow, which is nice.

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - default colors

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - matched similar to the horse:I tried to match the Warsteed color palette to the horse's colors. Interestingly, the horse has a nice saddle; you will need to find your own saddle to match the caparison. Many of the saddles look just fine. Here is where I ended up trying to match the basic horse.Chestnut hideFlaxen Chestnut hairLight Saddle of the Entwash

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - matched colors to basic horse

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - Dark green and light grey:The various browns, yellows, oranges, reds all look really good with this horse.However, I wanted to try to few things different first.Here is a green and light grey. You can clearly see the dyeable part of the Caparison.This horse is shown with a basic Light Saddle of the Entwash.

Warsteed of Autumn Sun - dark green and light grey

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - Ered Luin and Black:Bringing out the dark side... on this one, I went with Black hide, dark grey hair, and Ered Luin outfit, same basic Light Saddle of the Entwash.

Warsteed of Autumn Sun - ered luin and black

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - Yellow Mix:The strength of the Autumn Sun set probably has to be how nice it looks in yellows, red, and various shades of brown. This one is one of my favorite mixes.Autumn Sun caparison - default color,Yellow hide,Flaxen Chestnut hair,Nightwood Saddle,Leggins of Rivendell,Victory Accessory.

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - Yellow mix

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - Yellow mix2

Warsteed of the Autumn Sun - Mixed set:The Caparison does work with many of the other pieces out there. This mix shows a few common pieces tossed together. :)Autumn Sun caparison - default color,Brown hide,Minstrel's Halter,Leggings of Thorin's Hall,Burglar's Saddle,Hunter's Gear.